In highlighting the advantages of any product, many makers like to discuss how "accurate" their product is to some standard. It sounds great in marketing in sales, and thus is used often in advertising. Take for example, hi-fidelity in stereo equipment. For the accurate reproduction of sound as it is encoded on some medium (be it in analog or digital form), accuracy to reproduction is what is sought for many. If you look at the specs, solid-state equipment with high power meets this requirement. Tube amps may "sound" good, but is used in some sense as a sound enhancer -- not as an accurate reproducer of the encoded material. You can certainly prefer tube amps for their colored sound, but you cannot say it is more accurate. The sound you are hearing from tube amps is not authentic to the encoded version either.
If you look at electric guitars, there are many instances where this term of accuracy is misused. Or one parameter misused in another area. Take for example an electric guitar. Many people believe that if an electric guitar sounds good acoustically, it must be sound good through an amp. If you look at it quickly without thinking, you can see why this might be believed. But deeper thought on this issue reveals it is totally without merit. An acoustic guitar may sound good because the strings vibrate a well-constructed and materially-sourced soundboard (the most important aspect of the guitar) and this is what produces the sound characteristic. Any reputable luthier will tell you this based on their experience -- not to mention numerous scientific studies. So how would this apply to electric guitars? It doesn't! Most electric guitars are solid-body, and the acoustic sound comes from the strings vibrating the bridge and nut. These vibrations transfer to the body and neck and this is what you hear, in addition to the sounds created by the string vibrations themselves (which is almost nothing in air). There is no soundboard (not counting hollowbody or semi-hollowbody guitars). Electric guitars through amps have a characteristic sound based on what the electric pickups sense. These pickups sense only string vibration via magnetic field changes -- not any acoustic sound at all. In addition, if you had a completely flat frequency pickup and super rigid endpoints supporting the strings, the sounds heard due to this might not at all be desireable. This is because an electric guitar sounds good because it is a filter. It is not desired for a guitar to pickup all frequencies equally. It is not a stereo. What makes it sound good is that it colors the sound in a specific way by filtering frequencies, or enhancing others if they are near resonance. This cannot necessarily be detected acoustically!
Thus, you can certainly find electric guitars that sound good acoustically, but not so good through an amp. And vice versa. One does not corroborate the other. This is because the way the sound is generated is distinctly different for each and there isn't necessarily a high correlation.
You can also look at guitar modelers. Many claim to be more accurate in their component modeling or simulation. But -- what does it matter how accurate it is if the model foundation has a crappy sound to begin with? I can say I have the most accurate model of a crappy amp, and it should sound -- crappy! Thus, it isn't accuracy so much as authenticity. A guitar amp by definition is not hi-fi. It distinctly colors the sound in a desirable way. Thus, for modelers who continue to simulate based on schematic and components -- it is erroneous for them to say they have any advantage due to accuracy. Ultimately it is the authenticity of the sound that matters. Which is why many modelers put fudge factors, extra parameters, and all sorts of other things to adjust the tone for it to sound better. This is not accuracy any more.
The Kemper is the one modeler that attempts authenticity by modeling the sound -- not the components or circuit. The latter of course can get you there in reality, but as we all know, that should mean all amps of the same model should sound the same -- and they don't. This makes the Kemper a real breakthrough in aural engineering.
If you look at electric guitars, there are many instances where this term of accuracy is misused. Or one parameter misused in another area. Take for example an electric guitar. Many people believe that if an electric guitar sounds good acoustically, it must be sound good through an amp. If you look at it quickly without thinking, you can see why this might be believed. But deeper thought on this issue reveals it is totally without merit. An acoustic guitar may sound good because the strings vibrate a well-constructed and materially-sourced soundboard (the most important aspect of the guitar) and this is what produces the sound characteristic. Any reputable luthier will tell you this based on their experience -- not to mention numerous scientific studies. So how would this apply to electric guitars? It doesn't! Most electric guitars are solid-body, and the acoustic sound comes from the strings vibrating the bridge and nut. These vibrations transfer to the body and neck and this is what you hear, in addition to the sounds created by the string vibrations themselves (which is almost nothing in air). There is no soundboard (not counting hollowbody or semi-hollowbody guitars). Electric guitars through amps have a characteristic sound based on what the electric pickups sense. These pickups sense only string vibration via magnetic field changes -- not any acoustic sound at all. In addition, if you had a completely flat frequency pickup and super rigid endpoints supporting the strings, the sounds heard due to this might not at all be desireable. This is because an electric guitar sounds good because it is a filter. It is not desired for a guitar to pickup all frequencies equally. It is not a stereo. What makes it sound good is that it colors the sound in a specific way by filtering frequencies, or enhancing others if they are near resonance. This cannot necessarily be detected acoustically!
Thus, you can certainly find electric guitars that sound good acoustically, but not so good through an amp. And vice versa. One does not corroborate the other. This is because the way the sound is generated is distinctly different for each and there isn't necessarily a high correlation.
You can also look at guitar modelers. Many claim to be more accurate in their component modeling or simulation. But -- what does it matter how accurate it is if the model foundation has a crappy sound to begin with? I can say I have the most accurate model of a crappy amp, and it should sound -- crappy! Thus, it isn't accuracy so much as authenticity. A guitar amp by definition is not hi-fi. It distinctly colors the sound in a desirable way. Thus, for modelers who continue to simulate based on schematic and components -- it is erroneous for them to say they have any advantage due to accuracy. Ultimately it is the authenticity of the sound that matters. Which is why many modelers put fudge factors, extra parameters, and all sorts of other things to adjust the tone for it to sound better. This is not accuracy any more.
The Kemper is the one modeler that attempts authenticity by modeling the sound -- not the components or circuit. The latter of course can get you there in reality, but as we all know, that should mean all amps of the same model should sound the same -- and they don't. This makes the Kemper a real breakthrough in aural engineering.
